At no. 49 in Forbes list of Malaysia’s 50 richest people as at July 2018, with about US$305 million (RM 1.27 billion) nett worth is Norraesah Mohamad.

Who is Norraesah Mohamad?

Datuk Dr Norraesah Mohamad is the Executive Chairman of MyEG, holding control over about 30% of MyEG shares. That’s where her nett worth comes from.But what is her background? She has first degree in economics from MU and doctorate in Economic Science from Univ of Paris. Impressive. She was in government service until 1988 then moved into politics and private sector. She was UMNO supreme council member, Senator and Chairman of Bank Rakyat around 2000 to 2005. Became board member of MyEG in 2006.

What’s MyEG business? MyEG basically provides services previously done by various government departments – except MyEG is allowed to charge fees for what used to be free or at nominal fee when done by those government departments.

Services such as renewal of foreign workers insurance and work permits, renewal of motor vehicle insurance and road tax; testing, issuance and renewal of drivers’ licenses; vehicle ownership transfer; bankruptcy and liquidation status searches; application for identity card or MyKAD replacement; zakat collection; checking and payment of traffic offence summons and assessment, compound, license payment and information services for the KL City Hall.

That’s MyEG business model: privatise mandatory services by government departments and charge fees for them. It’s an excellent business model, can’t lose, captive market. To be fair MyEG is not alone in this business model. Many others….It’s an UMNO/BN specialty (???) for easiest fastest route to be filthy rich. Other counties may call it institutional corruption, we call it PFI (Private Finance Initiative) or PPP (Public Private Partnership).